The present invention relates to a novel post driver which includes a mechanism to fasten a variety of adaptors to a head portion of the post driver.
Posts have been driven into the ground for many different purposes, such as for sign posts, fence posts, etc. These posts were originally driven into the ground manually, i.e., physically hammering the posts into the ground with a hammer, a mallet, or a sledgehammer. Physically driving the post into the ground is time consuming, very physically demanding, and sometimes inaccurate.
Mechanical post drivers allow a user to drive sign posts into the ground faster and with greater ease. The user, for the most part, only has to hold onto the machine to ensure that the post is being driven into the ground at the right spot. Prior art post drivers have been limited to specific types of posts. For example, the prior art post driver could only be used to drive round posts into the ground as it was designed to only drive this shape of post into the ground. Thus, a user needed different mechanical post drivers to driver different types of posts into the ground.
The use of universal mechanical post drivers then came into being. The universal mechanical post drivers tried to use a design that would allow many different types of posts, such as round, square, channeled, etc., to be driven into the ground by a single post driver. While this was accomplished, because the post drivers were not made exactly for the type of post to be driven into the ground, the post driver was not always able to ensure stability of the post, or exact proper alignment of the post, during the driving process.
Thus, there is a need for a mechanical post driver that can drive many different types of posts into the ground, while still ensuring stability of the post, and proper alignment of the post, during the driving of the post into the ground. The present invention achieves such a need by providing a post driver that can have attached or removed therefrom a plurality of different types of adaptors for different types of posts, whether in size or in shape.
A primary object of the invention is to provide a post driver that has a quick-change front head design that can accommodate several different types of post adaptors.
Another object of the invention is to provide a post driver to drive sign posts where the sign posts are guided by an adaptor which aligns the post driver with the posts.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a post driver that has a quick-change front head design that can secure several different types of post adaptors.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a post driver that has a quick-change front head design that permits the quick-change of several different types of adaptors without the use of any tools.
Briefly, and in accordance with the foregoing, the present invention provides a post driver which includes various post adaptors having different cross-sections. The post adaptors can be attached to, and detached from, a head portion of the post driver. An adaptor is attached to the head portion by retracting a pin in the head portion, sliding the adaptor into slots on the head portion, and releasing the pin such that the pin extends through an aperture of the adaptor. A post having a cross-section comparable to that of the adaptor can then be inserted into an extending portion of the adaptor and into a bore of the head portion of the post driver. A ram and anvil of the post driver then work together to drive the post into the ground by repeatedly ramming against the end of the post. The adaptor can be removed from the head portion by retracting the pin from the aperture of the adaptor and then sliding the adaptor out of the slots of the head portion. Then, if another type of post is to be driven into the ground, a corresponding adaptor can be attached to the head portion.